1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a communication setting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been many kinds of information processing apparatuses (e.g., personal computers, mobile information terminals) having radio communication functions (e.g., wireless LAN communication functions, Bluetooth™ communication functions). The radio communication functions of such apparatuses may be built in, or provided by external equipment such as cards.
Individual countries have their own radio communication standards relating to wireless communications. When information processing apparatuses are to be shipped to a certain country, the radio communication function needs to conform to the radio communication standard of the country.
However, the radio communication standard varies from country to country. For example, usable frequency bands and transmission powers are different among countries. Thus, different settings for countries have to be made in the radio communication functions, leading to difficult pre-shipment steps and troublesome management.
In order to cope with this problem, for example, the radio communication function may be set to a worldwide radio communication standard so as to be applicable to any country. In this case, however, the frequency band and transmission power are very restricted, and the performance of the radio communication function may not fully be exhibited in the chosen country.
On the other hand, the country (or region) for shipment of information processing apparatuses may be restricted so that fixed values of the frequency band and transmission power are set to the radio communication function. In this case, however, the radio communication function may not accord to the radio communication standards of the countries other than the designated country, and the information processing apparatuses could not be shipped to such other countries.